‘It’s really well-balanced, there’s a bit of everything’: how to cook and eat like you’re on holiday in Vietnam

Jerry Mai’s cá nướng cuốn bánh tráng (grilled fish in rice paper). Photograph: Chris Middleton

When Jerry Mai migrated to Australia from Vietnam with her parents at six years old, a whole new way of eating opened up for her. She grew up eating instant noodles and “heavy meals” like fried rice for breakfast, so seeing friends eating cereal felt exciting and new. She had Fomo for their sandwiches at lunchtime even while tucking into rice paper rolls, rice and leftover curries.

“I used to love to go to my friend’s house because her parents would always make us a butter and honey sandwich and we’d have it with a cup of cordial,” the executive chef and restaurateur behind Pho Nom and Bia Hoi says.